NETWORK DEVICE WITH TUNNEL ESTABLISHMENT CONTROL BASED ON SITE-TYPE ATTRIBUTE RECEIVED FROM OTHER NETWORK DEVICE

• US 20140301392A1
• Filed: 04/09/2013
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Jain, Pradeep G., Kotalwar, Jayant, Birajdar, Girish, Remadevi, Geetha
• Granted Patent: US 9,374,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

In one embodiment, a first network device is configured to receive from a second network device a site-type attribute of the second network device, and to control establishment of a tunnel between the first network device and the second network device based at least in part on the received site-type attribute. The site-type attribute may be received in the first network device as part of a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message transmitted by the second network device to the first network device, and may comprise a Multicast Virtual Private Network (MVPN) site-type attribute indicating whether the second network device is a sender site of the MVPN. Controlling establishment of the tunnel between the first network device and the second network device may comprise preventing setup of the tunnel if the received site-type attribute indicates that the second network device is a sender site of the MVPN.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first network device adapted for communication with at least a second network device;

the first network device being configured to receive from the second network device a site-type attribute of the second network device and to control establishment of a tunnel between the first network device and the second network device based at least in part on the received site-type attribute.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second network devices comprise respective provider elements associated with a Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the site-type attribute is received in the first network device as part of a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message transmitted by the second network device to the first network device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the site-type attribute comprises a Multicast Virtual Private Network (MVPN) site-type attribute indicating whether the second network device is at least one of a sender site and a receiver site of an MVPN.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the MVPN site-type attribute is configured to take on a particular one of a plurality of different possible values including a first value indicating that the second network device is both a sender site and a receiver site of the MVPN, a second value indicating that the second network device is a sender site of the MVPN, and a third value indicating that the second network device is a receiver site of the MVPN.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the first value is a default value of the MVPN site-type attribute.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein controlling establishment of the tunnel between the first network device and the second network device comprises controlling establishment of a P-tunnel of a Provider Multicast Service Interface (PMSI) between the first and second network devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein controlling establishment of the tunnel between the first network device and the second network device comprises preventing setup of the tunnel if the received site-type attribute has a particular predetermined value.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the particular predetermined value is a value indicating that the second network device is a sender site of an MVPN.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first network device comprises:

a site-type attribute receiver configured to extract the site-type attribute from a message received from the second network device; and

a multicast controller coupled to the site-type attribute receiver and configured to prevent setup of the tunnel if the received site-type attribute indicates that the second network device is a sender site of an MVPN.

11. A communication network comprising the apparatus of claim 1.

12. A method comprising:

receiving in a first network device a site-type attribute of a second network device; and

controlling establishment of a tunnel between the first network device and the second network device based at least in part on the received site-type attribute.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving the site-type attribute comprises receiving the site-type attribute as part of a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message transmitted by the second network device to the first network device.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein controlling establishment of the tunnel between the first network device and the second network device comprises controlling establishment of a P-tunnel of a Provider Multicast Service Interface (PMSI) between the first and second network devices.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein controlling establishment of the tunnel between the first network device and the second network device comprises preventing setup of the tunnel if the received site-type attribute has a particular predetermined value.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the particular predetermined value is a value indicating that the second network device is a sender site of an MVPN.

17. An article of manufacture comprising a processor-readable storage medium having embodied therein executable program code that when executed by a processor of the first network device causes the first network device to perform the method of claim 12.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a first network device adapted for communication with at least a second network device;

the first network device being configured to transmit to the second network device a site-type attribute of the first network device so as to permit the second network device to control establishment of a tunnel between the second network device and the first network device based at least in part on the received site-type attribute.

19. A method comprising:

transmitting a site-type attribute of a first network device to a second network device so as to permit the second network device to control establishment of a tunnel between the second network device and the first network device based at least in part on the received site-type attribute.

20. An article of manufacture comprising a processor-readable storage medium having embodied therein executable program code that when executed by a processor of the first network device causes the first network device to perform the method of claim 19.